SHARPENING

Verb

sharpening

present participle of sharpen

Noun

sharpening (plural sharpenings)

The act by which something is sharpened.

(in the plural) The debris produced when a pencil is sharpened.

Source: Wiktionary


SHARPEN

Sharp"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sarpened; p. pr. & vb. n. Sharpening.] Etym: [See Sharp, a.]

Definition: To make sharp. Specifically: (a) To give a keen edge or fine point to; to make sharper; as, to sharpen an ax, or the teeth of a saw. (b) To render more quick or acute in perception; to make more ready or ingenious. The air . . . sharpened his visual ray To objects distant far. Milton. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Burke.

(c) To make more eager; as, to sharpen men's desires. Epicurean cooks Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite. Shak.

(d) To make more pungent and intense; as, to sharpen a pain or disease. (e) To make biting, sarcastic, or severe. "Sharpen each word." E. Smith. (f) To render more shrill or piercing. Inclosures not only preserve sound, but increase and sharpen it. Bacon.

(g) To make more tart or acid; to make sour; as, the rays of the sun sharpen vinegar. (h) (Mus. ) To raise, as a sound, by means of a sharp; to apply a sharp to.

Sharp"en, v. i.

Definition: To grow or become sharp.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

3 July 2025

SENSE

(noun) the faculty through which the external world is apprehended; “in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing”


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Coffee Trivia

The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.

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